8. Finding Captivating Stories In Your Own Backyard w/ Niki Boon

THE ARC CREATIVE PODCAST

NIKI BOON

Do you ever find yourself struggling to find stories worth documenting and sharing through your photography? It can often feel like we need to travel to exotic places at the far reaches of the Earth to find captivating stories to tell. As Niki Boon shows us today, however, often the greatest, most intimate and heartfelt stories are right in front of our eyes.

A documentary family photographer, Niki uses the medium of black and white photography as a way to document the journey of her four children growing up in Marlborough, New Zealand. With her camera acting as a visual diary, she strives to tell a deeper story in a picture using light and the uniqueness of her family life.

Inspired by her children and rural lifestyle, Niki takes advantage of the unstructured days of her children’s lives to dive deeper into how children live and think. Today she is sharing what she has learned about the Earth and nature through her children’s eyes and how photography has enabled her to take a step back and breathe. Niki believes in opening people’s eyes to the stories that are right in front of them by following your creativity and getting back down to basics.

Have you ever tried a long-term documentary photography project? What was it about and what did you learn? Let us know how it went in the comments below!

IN THIS EPISODE:

What it’s like to raise your children in a rural environment

How to humbly reconnect with nature

Capturing a child’s freedom through photography

What Niki’s kids have taught her about photography and life

Combining inspiration and problem solving to unlock creativity

QUOTES:

“That’s one thing that being outside in nature really can do is make you stop and make you think about the world and not the material.” (14:09)

“I’m somebody who wants to be in it, I’m very much a doer. Like let’s do this and let’s do that, but that’s actually taught me to sit back and to just let things unfold. And the photography has helped me with that too, just to sit back and watch things unfold.” (19:14)

“Where my photography is at, at the moment, has all been sparked by my kids. I am curious about what it is to live a life that they live, with very little ‘have to’s’ and conformity. That I am very curious about, that is largely what inspires me in terms of my photography.” (25:28)

“I’ve taken pictures of my kids and I think that the pictures are a gift to me, they are a gift to them. And I’ve taken pictures for others and it’s just such an amazing gift to give. You have this ability to make phenomenal pictures and show people how amazing their lives are and how amazing they are as people, and I think that that is the gift. And I think it’s pretty special.” (28:09)